Is this your new go-to guy?

It is a strange quirk of human nature but we aren't always the best judges of when we look best. Many years ago, while working at a national newspaper, I was sent in error a contact sheet (this was in the dim and distant past) from which a megastar (who will remain nameless) had already picked out her favourite images. Not only were the pre-touched-up shots a revelation, but she sure couldn't pick the most flattering photos.

I should say here and now, however, that I am equally guilty of this form of style-blindness, as I was once persuaded by a friend to buy an electric-blue raincoat. When I wore it for the first time I realised that he had done this - quite deliberately - as a joke.

So imagine how wonderful it would be to have the help of a personal stylist. Indeed, just look at how Gary Barlow has transformed himself from chubby boy-band member into one of the most stylish men on British TV with the help of the magic touch of Luke Day, Fashion Director of GQ Style.

This is the concept behind the newly launched e-commerce site Thread. "What's special is that you have access to the exact same stylists that celebrities or wealthy individuals have access to," explains the site's founder, Bermudan-born Kieran O'Neill. "This wasn't possible before, unless you paid their day rate to go shopping with them, which could run into hundreds of pounds. You could, of course, go into a department store and speak to one of the stylists there, but effectively they were just trying to get you to buy the clothes so that they could hit their sales targets.

However, with Thread you get access to the main stylists and they really are working for you and want to build a long-term relationship."

The service is completely free and the stylists involved are all well-respected - indeed, Gwyneth Paltrow's stylist, Elizabeth Saltzman, is taking part in the project - and have access to thousands of items for you to choose from.If you sign up for the service - and at the moment it is by invitation only, unless you take advantage of the special GQ offer below - the first thing that happens is that you are assigned your free personal stylist. And rather than having to browse through thousands of items to come up with something you like, every week you will be sent three outfit ideas, each consisting of three items that may include outerwear, shoes or other pieces, chosen from 1,000 brands the site is already working with, from Lanvin to River Island.

If, for example, you have a specific event coming up, you can email your stylist at any point and they will then attempt to supply you with appropriate suggestions. Indeed,

the idea is that over time you will build up a personal relationship that will allow your stylist to choose items for your perusal with ever more accuracy. You can also add personal information, such as labels or colours you particularly like (or indeed hate), as well as body shape, budget limits and style preferences - whether you are classically inclined or more interested in trends. Then, if you so choose, the pieces are sent to you to try on. If you like them, they will be charged to your card. If not, you simply return them - all postage is free. "So far, the feedback has been amazing," reports O'Neill. "What we hear more from our customers is that they are so happy to have somebody who is helping them to figure out what suits them and what they really like, what looks best on them, but also someone who brings them this kind of very personalised selection. Before, it was overwhelming to walk into a department store or log on to an e-commerce site and be presented with so much choice; most men simply didn't know where to start. And one of the pluses of Thread is that because good stylists will know every label under the sun, they will be able to introduce you to new brands you hadn't heard of."

O'Neill has a proven record in the digital domain and describes himself as a serial entrepreneur. When still at school, aged 15, he launched a video-sharing site. "It was similar to YouTube," he explains. "It wasn't supposed to be a business, but the site grew so quickly that pretty soon around 400,000 people were using it every day."

O'Neill recalls spending every day at school worrying the site would crash and then running home to work on it. After a few years he sold up and it was reported that he walked away from the deal with nearly a million dollars. His next venture came when he was at university. O'Neill came up with a site that would recommend which video game to buy next based on what you had enjoyed previously. He attracted backers including people from Skype and LoveFilm. By last year when he sold it, over a million gamers were using it regularly.

Having made more money in his twenties than most of us will make in a lifetime, O'Neill spent some time figuring out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. "The idea behind Thread was one I had been playing with for years," he says. "With this business, I wanted to prove that I could do this for the long term - and to create a service that I had a deep desire to use myself as a consumer."

GQ readers can jump the queue and gain special access to Thread at thread.com/GQ.